1. Technical Field
This invention generally relates to infant entertainment and development devices. More particularly, this invention relates to an infant entertainment and development device which promotes leg muscle and coordination development by exploiting a baby's natural inclination to kick his or her legs.
2. Background Art
A great many exercise and entertainment devices for infants have been invented and developed over the years, some of which have been highly successful. The device commonly known as a baby walker has probably been the most successful. However, some child development specialists have recently criticized the walker for causing adverse developmental effects. These specialists maintain that the walker forces the infant into the walking stage without progressing through the scooting and crawling stages, inhibiting natural muscle development and actually delaying learning to walk.
A second infant entertainment and exercise device is known as a jumper. One such device is sold under the trade name JOHNNY JUMP-UP and is manufactured by EVENFLO. These types of devices are characterized by an upright body harness suspended from several nylon straps which are in turn suspended from a spring which is suspended from the top of a doorway, normally using a spring-loaded clamp to secure themselves over the moldings at the top of the doorway. The length of the straps are adjusted so that the baby's feet just touch the floor when the spring is under tension. When the baby kicks, the spring tends to compress and thereby lift the baby off the floor. The bouncing motion continues as long as the baby kicks. These devices have been criticized as a safety hazard because violent jumps might result in the clamp becoming dislodged and the infant falling to the floor, with the spring and clamp falling on top of the infant.
It became apparent to the inventors that what was needed was an entertainment and exercise devise which was both safe and did not force the infant to bypass any of the normal developmental stages. Accordingly, the objects of the present invention include the provision of an infant entertainment and development device which promotes leg muscle and coordination development by capitalizing on a baby's natural inclination to kick his or her legs, without placing the baby at risk by elevating it above the floor an unsafe distance, without hanging potentially dangerous objects above the baby's head and which encourages development without bypassing normal developmental stages.